Basketball Roundup: Dartmouth girls nearly upset No. 3 Whitman-Hanson

The No. 19 Dartmouth girls basketball team came out firing Thursday night in its MIAA Div. 1 first round game at third-seeded Whitman-Hanson, making its first three shots — all 3-pointers.

STAFF REPORT

The No. 19 Dartmouth girls basketball team came out firing Thursday night in its MIAA Div. 1 first round game at third-seeded Whitman-Hanson, making its first three shots — all 3-pointers.

The Indians led 14-11 after the first quarter, but the Panthers clamped down defensively and rallied for a 55-50 victory.

"We got off to a real hot start," said Dartmouth coach Jeff Hoyle, who graduates Amy Wheaton, Taylor Nisbet, Vikki Thomas and Amber Coelho. "We hit our first three shots, but they're a real good man-to-man team and they held us to six points in the second quarter."

Dartmouth, which trailed by five at the half, got within a point in the second half, but never took the lead.

The No. 18 Lakers stayed with second-seeded Medway early in Thursday's MIAA Div. 3 first round game, but poor free-throw shooting plagued Apponequet down the stretch. The Lakers, who enjoyed their first playoff win since the 2004-05 season earlier in the week, shot just 8-of-28 from the foul line.

"We had an opportunity to upset them, it's hard to believe with a 20-point loss, but we did," said Apponequet coach Jim Cabucio. "We just didn't shoot well from the free-throw line. That was really a blow."

Jordan Goetz led Apponequet with 11 while Siondueh Burnette added 10.

"We played very hard tonight," Cabucio said. "It was a tremendous effort."